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Authenticity is Everything
Fake charity items from PSA Productions.....Jordan, Lebron, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Aaron Rogers, etc.
All of the fake items are certified by GA, yes, Steve Sipe. Everything is elaborately matted and framed to throw off any suspicion.
The banners at the tables all have large PSA lettering so it appears that PSA is the company offering the goods, when in fact it is someone taking advantage of the PSA name recognition.
I of course asked to speak with the general manager. No surprise, he isn't available. They offer me their corporate number, nobody answers and they ask you to leave a message. Again, no surprise, no return phone call. This really p***** me off. I went up to every person I saw looking at the items and warned them to not bid. My first inclination was to write "fake signature" on the bidding sheets. My daughter talked me out of it, because she thinks we will get kicked out.
They were offering Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Aaron Rogers, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Ted Williams. Just about every item was around $400 in the bidding.
Any suggestions? I was thinking about contacting the local newspaper, not really sure of anyone cares besides us. If you live in Arizona and have a Mountainside Fitness near you, go in and see if they have the same set up. Maybe if more people called to complain, they would do something.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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I finally heard back from a news reporter who is interested in doing a story. I'll let you know what comes of it.
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Permalink Reply by Dom Vito Castiglione on
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See if you can convince him in doing a whole Ken Burns style series. There's enough material here to work with
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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on
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Agree with all the posts here, spot on. I was at a charity auction here in New Zealand 2 weeks ago including terrible fake Jordan Air trainers, Tiger Woods gloves, Lance Armstrong signed helmet and Apollo 11 signed photo. All were awful and clear fakes but all any of the buyers cared about was a COA.
2 of the buyers who paid out thousands for the junk told me that it's okay they have a COA. I told them it was a piece of paper that anyone can print or fake and the response was - well it's a charity auction, you are just jealous that we won and nobody would stoop so low to sell fakes via a charity auction.
I see it all the time on Trade Me our online auction site, look at this as an example of a dumb buyer - someone thinks they have a genuine signed Rolling Stones album for $195 - http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/music-memorabilia/other/...
Until buyers refuse to accept that people sell fakes and forging is a business on it's own the forgers will keep making money
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Permalink Reply by Null on
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We have to raise awareness. People went to Seaworld all the time and it DIDN'T EVEN CROSS THEIR MIND that perhaps these whales were being abused, and that a giant whale inside a pool may not be the best idea. I'm sure there were "Whale Enthusiasts" who knew this all along, and couldn't even fathom how the moron typical citizen could give their money to Seaworld and support it. Then the documentary "Blackfish" came out, and people suddenly were AWARE of what was actually going on. It caught fire, went viral, was shared by everybody, and now people know what is really going on and they no longer support it.
Now what do you think would happen if just 5-10 "Whale Enthusiasts" sat on a website blogging about how horrible Seaworld was, and blaming their customers? Pretty much nothing. Sure, someone whose interest was sparked may accidentally stumble upon it on Google and read a little, but overall that's not going to stop Seaworld from making money. When you change the mindset of the people PAYING, that causes serious issues.
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Agreed. It would be great if national attention could be brought to this on something like 20/20. The last well covered story was Operation Bullpen, and at that time we we just concerned with forged signatures. Now it is so much more. Fake authentication companies, the over reliance of a piece of paper saying something is real, high quality copies, fake charity set ups, reproducing holograms or stickers to mimic JSA and others, etc.
We are in an era where common sense seems to be extremely lacking. The basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge things, which is shared by nearly all people, and can be reasonably expected of nearly all people without any need for debate, has all but disappeared. Aristotle would be ashamed!
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Not sure if anyone saw my previous post.....so I'm re-posting. Would greatly appreciate any feedback.
I have a friend in Minnesota who runs a charity organization which has used these guys who came across this blog. He suggested I take a look at the site as I have bought quite a few items at the auctions. I am including some close-up images of the signatures of some of my most prized possessions and I would greatly appreciate any feedback as to whether these are authentic or not. The Wilt Chamberlain and the Magic and Bird have certificates from GA Global Authentics and the Nicklaus flag has a GAI certificate (I’m not sure if GA and GAI are the same company or not, but they appear to be). The Muhammad Ali has a certificate by ACE and says Autograph Authentication Experts on the card. Any direction you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.
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bird johnson.jpg, 979 KB -
ali.jpg, 744 KB
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wilt.jpg, 752 KB
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Permalink Reply by Rich on
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I don't know much about the signatures in question, but I can tell you that GAI, GA and ACE are all considered especially bad authenticators generally seen as empowering the forgery business. ACE in particular is banned from Ebay.
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The Ali is bad.
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The Ali is bad, so is the Bird. Magic is close, but is so easy to forge, not sure on that one. I'll take a quick look at my Chamberlain's and let you know.
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With all 3 of those companies there is a MUCH HIGHER chance that they are fake as opposed to real... The Bird is not Authentic IMO, I can't believe the forger even continued after the mess up on the "L". The Wilt I would be shocked if it was authentic, and I do not see your Nicklaus flag attached.
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